The Bare Bones Grocery Challenge

Can you spend under $30 for groceries for one week and still eat well? Are you ready to meet the challenge?

Way back in 2002 I published the original The Cupboard is Bare and There’s Nothing to Eat shopping list and menu.

This shopping list and menu were originally intended as an emergency stop-gap for those times when there was absolutely no money to spare for anything, including food. It was meant to be a bare bones plan to get you through until the next pay day. The list was revised in 2003, 2007, 2011 and again in 2017 with some additions to the shopping list and the menu.

As an emergency list, it covers breakfasts, lunches and dinners using minimal ingredients that would cost around $30 if you had to buy them.

Since then, once or twice a year I secretly take up the challenge to spend less than $30 on groceries for the week and honestly the family don’t even realize. In fact most of the time they are eating meals that are very similar to our normal eating habits. Loads of fruit and veg, bread and cereals, dairy and minimal meat so they don’t even notice anything different.

I do though. I save a lot of money just by very carefully planning our meals for one week.